| 摘要 |
Apparatus for storing a supply of flat, elongated sticks stacked in an aligned, face-to-face relationship has a double ended guideway formed by rigid guide members closely spaced from the edges of the sticks. The guideway has a first vertical section with a stick input means formed at its lower end, a second vertical section with a stick output means formed at its lower end, and a curved section that connects the upper ends of the vertical sections. Sticks received at the input end advance through the guideway to the output end where they are fed to a high speed stick inserter. In one form, the curved upper section moves vertically with respect to the vertical sections to provide a variable volume storage that maintains a substantially constant pressure within the stack. Devices that sense the vertical position of the upper section, and hence the quantity of stored sticks, control an automatic stick stacking apparatus that adds sticks to the guideway. In another form, the curved upper section is fixed, but has a movable outer rail and associated switching device, responsive to the quantity of stored sticks, which control the stacker. Misaligned sticks inserted into the guideway are rejected through cut-out channels formed in the rails above the input end. Spring loaded pawls that ride the sides of the stack at the cut-out channels eliminate the misaligned sticks. Gates are provided to block the cut-out channels during a low stack pressure condition. The gates are operated manually or by automatic controls responsive to the stick quantity sensing devices.
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